Slim PSP dated for Japan

By Tom Bramwell Published 17 July, 2007

Plus pricing for cables, tuner.

Sony plans to launch the new slimline PSP in Japan on 20th September at a pre-tax price of 19,800 yen (GBP 79 / EUR 118).

Announced at E3 last week, the new PSP is 33 percent lighter, 19 percent slimmer and 67 percent more sexalicious. It has video-out for watching UMD films or Memory Stick videos on the TV or, more likely, playing games on one.

It can also buffer game-data a bit to reduce load-times, and charge itself through USB (PC and PlayStation 3, obviously - and probably even Xbox 360 if you cross-dress).

Sony's Japanese announcement makes no mention of the rest of the world, but Sony's E3 conference told us to expect European and North American launches in September.

Launch colours, judging by Sony's Japanese website, will be Piano black, Ceramic White, Ice Silver, Rose Pink, Lavender Purple and Felicia Blue.

The announcement also prices the individual video-out cables you'll need to buy to hook it up to your TV. Even the old PSP was hardly big enough to fit a bunch of AV outs, so in Japan at least you'll have to pay 2,200 yen (GBP 9 / EUR 13) for composite or S-video cables and 2,800 yen (GBP 11 / EUR 17) if you want D-terminal or component.

There's also a fancy little TV tuner, due out on the same day, which goes for 6,980 yen (GBP 28 / EUR 42) and plugs into the USB port.

For all that in Japanese and the chance to squint at tiny photographs, head off in this direction.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • steve213 #1 5 years ago

    where did the rumors of the 8gig built in hard drive go??

  • gallow #2 5 years ago

    No mention of improvements to the battery then?

  • Chaote-Imagicka #3 5 years ago

    "Even the old PSP was hardly big enough to fit a bunch of AV outs, so in Japan at least you'll have to pay 2,200 yen (GBP 9 / EUR 13) for composite or S-video cables and 2,800 yen (GBP 11 / EUR 17) if you want D-terminal or component."

    Wha? Why not just make you run it through a PS3? Could it be that Sony are giving us options here?

  • mingster #4 5 years ago

    batteries cost 3 quid are you too skint to afford some spares

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #5 5 years ago

    "No mention of improvements to the battery then?"

    I wasn't at the conference myself (Ellie was), and the press release doesn't mention it, but as I understand it the slim PSP uses a different battery. Reports around E3 suggested it would indeed last longer - Joystiq quoted 10 hours, I believe.

  • penguin_overlord #6 5 years ago

    I remember a long time ago there were rumors of a TV tuner for the PSP and it just vanished. It's a good idea and I hope it can be used with the old PSP as well. If it just uses USB I don't see why not. It certainly another good feature to the system.

  • Mageme #7 5 years ago

    Urk! TV Tuner... have we gone back to the Sega Game Gear days?

  • jonsaan #8 5 years ago

    It would have been nice to have a built in screen cover I must say.

  • Kay #9 5 years ago

    The stock battery life is exactly the same as on the old PSP.

    K

  • Razz #10 5 years ago

    It's time to ask the people goign to TGS to pick you one up :))

  • SeesThroughAll #11 5 years ago

    Heh, I'd seriously buy a TV tuner though. Hopefully the PSPhat will support it too. Are they releasing that in Europe too?

  • Ceatlan #12 5 years ago

    I was hoping they'd change the form factor a bit, as I find my PSP bloody uncomfortable to use for any longer than about 20 minutes.

    TV out is good though, I've wanted that since day 1. That way when I'm away on business I can use the PSP on its own whilst travelling, and hook it up to the hotel TV when I get there.

  • playgen #13 5 years ago

    The comparison to gamegear are even greater then

    Crap battery time
    Mostly the same games as the console version
    More expensive than Nintendos handheld
    And now theres a TV tuner!

  • mossychops001 #14 5 years ago

    PSP Tuner PSP-S310 (ISDB-T = DVB in the uk)

  • monkie_king #15 5 years ago

    @playgen: then they should make an external battery pack the size of an aubergine, too
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/07 @ 13:26

  • playgen #16 5 years ago

    @monkie_king

    They already do!

    http://ww w.journaldugeek.com/blog/images...

  • Floppy #17 5 years ago

    TV tuner eh? That'll come in handy when the analogue broadcasts gets turned off.

  • brooza #18 5 years ago

    I want one in fellatio blue

  • kangarootoo #19 5 years ago

    "67 percent more sexalicious"

    That sounds like me in my bright red Italian pants (and you think I'm kidding).

  • urban #20 5 years ago

    i'll ave one.

  • cawley1 #21 5 years ago

    >Urk! TV Tuner... have we gone back to the Sega Game Gear days?
    Let's hope it also comes with an aerial bigger than an electricity pylon!

    >TV tuner eh? That'll come in handy when the analogue broadcasts gets turned off.
    I read somewhere Nintendo have a TV tuner due out for the DS in the coming months (Edge?) and I think it somehow uses digital signals as opposed to analogue (at least in Japan) could this be the same system?

  • MDL199 #22 5 years ago

    playgen
    17-Jul-07 13:22:09 The comparison to gamegear are even greater then

    Crap battery time
    Mostly the same games as the console version
    More expensive than Nintendos handheld
    And now theres a TV tuner!

    ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------

    The battery life for the current PSP is about 6 hours which is actually pretty good and a whole lot better than the Sony bashers were saying it was gonna be before the system launched.

    The PSP may be ever so slighty more expensive than the DS but it's a vastly superior piece of kit and far better value for what you're getting.

    I also like being able to play console quality games on the go or when i'm at home and not feeling like sitting in front of a big tv it beats the DS's shallow fun for 5 minutes boring as hell after that games if some of the titles can even be called games.

    I love the PSP and think it's the most unfairly criticised piece of hardwear ever although I will fully agree that the positioning of the analogue nub is certainly not the best.

  • manic_mouse #23 5 years ago

    "I love the PSP and think it's the most unfairly criticised piece of hardware ever "

    Quoted for truth, it's gets so much bashing when it's actually a technical marvel with many brilliant games.

  • Cloudane #24 5 years ago

    £79?

    It had better be £99 over here otherwise I'll be importing as usual.

  • Dr_Evil #25 5 years ago

    Underwhelmed. Total failure of imagination, as redesigns go. Bizarrely, they seem not to have taken on board that difficulty with the controls has been commented on in nearly every PSP game review. As, in reviews of the system itself, has battery life.

    Still, it's a potentially great piece of hardware. Stick an 8Gb memory stick in it (£85 on play.com) and it's a decent media system which also plays OK games.

  • Genji #26 5 years ago

    "...it beats the DS's shallow fun for 5 minutes boring as hell after that games if some of the titles can even be called games."

    It's a shame. I was taking you seriously right up until that point. Obviously, you haven't played that many DS games.

    But yes, I suppose the PSP gets more bashing than it should. UMD was a mistake from the beginning, though.
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/07 @ 02:41

  • 3william56 #27 5 years ago

    I believe the caching of data means less UMD work, and so longer battery life.

    And a portable widescreen TV? Yeah, who'd want that? O_o
    Particularly if (as with most tuner add ons), it'll double as a PVR as well.

    Hope the PS3 gets a tuner/PVR add on as well. Would finally complete the 'one entertainment box in the lounge' concept they've been aiming for.

  • bdaggers #28 5 years ago

    People still give a toss about the PSP ?

    How quaint.

  • Killerbee #29 5 years ago

    Having managed to shrug off the PSP until now, I'm actually quite tempted to get one when this new model arrives - hopefully SCEE will announce a bundle similar to the one the Americans are getting (Daxter seems like a good game to bundle) and keep the price sensible.